Andrea Becker: Can you tell us a little bit about your art thesis?
Arielle Singer: For my Visual Art thesis I am diving into my own consciousness looking at the many twisted and offset aspects of being a person in a project I have titled “Echoes”. This was first displayed via projections in the Digital Art Studio in Fall of 2017 and now being done in the Henle Dance Pavilion Feb 28-March 3. The piece itself is a stop motion animation video of dancers who are “echoed” (you’ll understand when you see it), and then projected onto the windows of the Henle Dance Pavilion.
AB: Why did you choose to do an arts thesis?
AS: That’s a funny story actually. I ended up doing my major thesis in my junior year, so one of my favorite professors, Fernando Orellana, approached me to see if, now that I had more schedule flexibility, if I would be interested in doing a two-term art thesis.
AB: The Visual Arts department has so much to offer. What classes did you take that drew you to using projections as a part of your thesis?
AS: I definitely think Real and Recorded Time had a big impact on this thesis, it exposed me to stop motion animation and projection mapping two things that really make this project happen.
AB: Where did you find inspiration during the artistic process?
AS: Honestly the concept just came to me in a thought and I’ve sort of rolled with it since. Fernando has provided me with a lot of inspiration and suggestions throughout the process as well.
AB: What do you want the audience to take away when viewing your project?
AS: I want the audience to feel uncomfortable. I’ve been told by some of my friends that it’s creepy but I feel like it’s truly that uncomfortableness expressing itself in a different way.
AB: What has been the most challenging part of doing thesis? The most rewarding?
AS: The most challenging part was definitely the stop motion aspect of the projections. The video being projected is made up of thousands upon thousands of still images that have been strung together. I worked with my two models for many hours to get this just right, so it was definitely an extremely time consuming process. The most rewarding thing has definitely been the reception to the piece. People will walk by the piece and then hunt me down and say, “was that your work” followed up by how the piece affected them.
AB: What are you plans after Union? Are you planning to continue being involved in the arts?
AS: Oy, well that’s a question. At this point I’m looking to (hopefully) pursue an MFA in stage management, not quite sure where yet. But I hope to always be involved in the arts at least in some capacity.
